The Wonderful Misadventures of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
by LauralynShawn
Summary: This is the story of four best friends and their school years. It follows them through the summer before their first year, all the way up till their seventh. They form friendships that bond them together, but at times they all just seem to fall apart. The twist? Remus was not born Remus John Lupin. This Remus is Remus Joan Lupin, the only girl in the Marauders. T for some cursing.
1. The Beginning

**Alright, this is my latest fanfic! I don't know why Harry Potter plot bunnies have suddenly bit me, but they have, and it's set with the Marauders characters, and of course, one is genderbent. :) I hope you enjoy this first chapter. It's a bit short, and I think most of them will be, but there will be quite a few of them. This story deals with the Marauders going through school. I may write a sequel that has their life post Hogwarts. **

**Pairings: James and Lily, Sirius and Remus (possible, I think it's going to happen, but not entirely sure)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Harry Potter. **

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The child sat on the wooden chair, her feet barely dusting the top of the stone floor. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears; she could even count every single beat. There was a cat, an extremely annoying cat, that she could hear pacing the halls in the same route.

She could smell it too. It smelled of mothballs and dead fish and this particular odor that only belonged to cats. And she hated that smell. This close to that time of the month, all of her senses were a bit haywire. Why then, couldn't she hear her father conversing with the older gentlemen behind the walls? She did hear a door groan open across the stones, and her head perked up. Her father, with his rapidly graying hair, smiled and shook the older gentlemen's hand. The older gentlemen had long white hair tied back in a ponytail. His eyes met hers, and she almost gasped at them. They were so clear and sparkling with light and intelligence. Quickly, her eyes darted to the floor. She didn't want him to see what was in her eyes.

"Lyall, may I speak to your daughter for a moment?" The older man asked. Her heart rate skyrocketed. She didn't want to talk to him. He was the only other person now that knew about her secret.

"Of course." Her father replied. His large hand enveloped hers and squeezed gently as she hopped up to follow the white-haired man. The room smelled musty, with a large scent of lemon drops. There was something else in there, a creature, but she did not recognize the smell.

"What is your name?" The man asked. She walked over to a chair in front of the desk and pulled herself into it. On his desk was a small tag that read, "Albus Dumbledore."

"My name i-is Remus J. Lupin." She said. "Sir." She added on very quickly, making sure that her eyes never met Dumbledore's. She had never met a wizard of his rank. It was an honor to be in his presence, and she was making a fool of herself.

"What a unique name." he commented. Remus flinched. She hated it when people said things like that when all they truly meant was, "Remus? Remus is a boy's name. Why would your parents name you Remus?"

"Thank you, sir." She said, not even caring to hide the bitter tone that came across. Suddenly, Dumbledore sat up, and his twinkling eyes met hers.

"Are you ashamed of your name?" he asked. It was a simple question. Yes or no. Remus sat there for a moment, though, deciding what she should say. Her mother named her Remus. It was her last dying wish. After giving birth to her, her mother grew weaker and weaker until she wasted away. She never knew that she had given birth to a girl and not a boy, all she wanted was to name her child Remus J. Lupin. Remus was proud of living her mother's last wish.

"No." she said.

"Good. Now, you must get going. The supplies list is rather long this year, and school is starting next week."

"I can go?"

"Why wouldn't you be able to go? You are a very bright young lady."

Remus glanced down at her shoes. "Because, because, well, I'm a…you know, a mon-"

"You are a werewolf."

"Yes."

"This is not something you chose to be, but had it thrust upon you, and I will not judge you for that. Do not fret, arrangements have been made for your monthly transformations."

"Th-thank you, sir." She stuttered and was ushered out of the room. Her father grabbed her hand and they were off to Diagon Alley. She, Remus Joan Lupin, was going to Hogwarts. She was going to Hogwarts!


	2. Diagon Alley

Remus' newfound excitement quickly died away. All it took was one step into the Leaky Cauldron before every drop of happiness was sucked away and replaced with fear. What would she do every month? What if she somehow got out? What if she killed somebody, or worse, turned them into a monster like herself?

Her father caught her frown as he led her up the steps to a shop for robes. He looked down at her and smiled as gently as he could. There was nothing he could say to cheer her up. Her father knew much of her pain; he had to live with it too, but he would never truly know what it was like to turn every month into such an awful creature.

Her mind could barely function as she stepped into the robe shop. All she could smell was the over powering stench of strawberries. Sweet, sweet strawberries all around. In her nose, under her eyes, the smell was everywhere. She practically gagged s the lady came near her to begin taking measurements. It was _her_. The lady smelled of those…those…oh, Merlin. Remus was sure she was going to puke. She had to look out the window and imagine the fresh air, and took shallow, short breaths in through her mouth, out through her nose.

She saw a boy outside with dark brown hair and glasses that were too large for his face. He was flipping a coin higher and higher, but always catching it. _Show off_. Remus rolled her eyes, and next thing she knew, he was starring at her. And he winked. He winked! What did that mean?

The woman moved, and the stench rolled off in another wave, threatening to send Remus overboard. She looked towards her dad and tried to get her discomfort across. Her father met her eyes and knew instantly. He was always worried about taking her out on full moon days because of how sensitive she was.

"Is that all?" he asked. The woman shook her head, and Mr. Lupin beckoned to his daughter. Remus leapt of the pedestal and ran as fast as she could to the fresh air outside, and ran smack dab into someone else. That someone else had very untidy hair, and a coin in his hand…

Oh no.

"I'm so sorry." She sputtered. "I didn't-I just, I'm-"

"Hey, no worries." The boy said.

"I'm Remus." She said quickly, and then wanted to punch herself. Why had she said that? Why had she said Remus and not Rem or Joan or-

"Remus?"

"Yeah, yeah I know-"

"Cool name." And he said it with such sincerity that Remus smiled.

"I'm James," he said, "James Potter."

"Nice to meet you."

"Same. Buying things for Hogwarts?"

Remus nodded her head, "First year."

"Me too! Man, I'm so excited. I've got pranks planned that'll knock your trousers off! Literally!"

James' head whipped around when he heard someone shouting his name. "Better go, or Mum will rip me a new one. See you around, Remus!"

"See you!" she called back as naturally as she could muster. Her father came up behind her and grabbed her arm gently. It still hurt though. Every touch sent pins and needles throughout her body. The day was wasting away. They had to be quicker.

"Be careful around Potter," her dad muttered to her, "I had potions with his father. Real troublemaker."

She was lead into a dusty shop that made her sneeze every thirty seconds, but thankfully, finding the right wand did not take long.

She was paired with a long, thin ebony wand with a core of unicorn hair with a small, round ball at the end. Remus loved her wand. She hated having to give it up to her father when he had to put it in her trunk. It _chose_ her. It had to have known what she was like, and still it chose her. It liked her. Remus quickly trotted behind her father. This was their last day of shopping. Tomorrow, she would be boarding the train to go to Hogwarts.

There was no telling what this school had in store for her.


	3. The Train

**Third chapter's a charm! :) This one is a bit longer, so I hope it's interesting enough to keep you reading. **

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The dank floor smelled of blood and straw. Remus woke up slowly, as she always did. Her eyes did not wish to see as she pried their lids apart. The fuzzy picture around her slowly became clearer and clearer, until she could see the ceiling. She was lying on her back, with her limbs contorted into strange positions. She sat up, and groaned as every bone cracked and popped. Her shoulder wasn't moving. Remus could tell just by the feel of it that it was out of place.

That happened quite often with her transformations. Every bone in her body was moved around during it, and sometimes, they did not always end up back in their correct spaces. With her free hand, she grabbed her arm and shoved it back up into the socket as her father had shown her before. Many of her wounds were reopening as she began to move about. She touched her face and sighed in relief when there were no wounds there.

As she began to rise, the memories came flooding back and she fell back to the floor.

_Hunger. Hunger. Must…must eat…must fight._

Remus tried to shake the thoughts out of her head, but they would not go.

_Burns. Skin burns, hurts. Have to get out of it._

She could hear the screaming and the howling that it became, and she hated it with a passion, but she had to get out of this room. She hated the cellar. She hated the blood stained stones and the old blanket her father always rewashed and placed in a secret compartment just for her.

She pulled the thick wool over herself and limped out to the basement. Her father was there, reading the news, trying not to appear to be worried.

Remus was not dumb. She knew the truth. Every time, he could hear her screaming, begging to be let out before the wolf took over completely. He could hear her body breaking and her teeth tearing away at her own flesh. And every time, he would cry, but he would still make her breakfast and tend to her wounds.

She wished she could just be a normal girl for once, but that was never going to happen. She chomped down on the rather large breakfast as he cleaned her up. The thing about werewolf wounds was that they could never truly heal. They would always leave scars. Some were worse than others, but they were always there.

One step at a time, she made her way up the stairs and got dressed.

Her father waved her off as the train sped away from the 9 ¾ platform. There was no turning back. With a stiff everything, Remus relied on her cane to get her back to an empty seat. In one compartment, she spotted three boys. One was James, and the other was a boy with long, greasy black hair and a rather large nose. The other boy had curly black hair and a lopsided smile.

The large smile grew as he spoke, "So which house would you go to, if you had a choice?"

"Gryffindor! Where the brave dwell!" James sang. The black hair boy made a noise. "What, you got a problem with that?"

"No, not if you'd rather be brawny than brainy." He said in such a monotone voice, Remus almost started laughing. James caught sight of her, and his smile grew even more. He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and waved her in,

"Hey Remus! And you, Snivellus, you're no fun, you can leave." James glared at the boy with black hair whose name was probably _not_ Snivellus.

Remus walked past Snivellus, or whatever his name was, she smiled but he only glowered. She sat across from the two boys and tried to make sure that her smile didn't waver. She was just so tired. Her neck was stiff, and she really needed to crack it, but that could potentially show her scars.

"Remus, this is Sirius." James introduced her to the smiling lad. Sirius smiled at Remus and said hello. Some girls walked past, and his eyes followed them, flipping his hair. Remus was expecting the girls to roll their eyes, or at least just keep walking, but instead, they giggled like idiots and sheepishly smiled.

"So, what house are you hoping to get?" James asked as he bit into a chocolate frog. Remus' stomach lurched, and she realized that she was starving…again.

"Um…I don't know, I guess Gryffindor." She wasn't quite sure actually. Gryffindor would be nice, but she wasn't exactly "brave". Maybe Hufflepuff would be more for her, but she wasn't all that loyal, or friendly. Maybe they would make a special house just for her. Lupin: House of the one lone female werewolf that doesn't really fit in anywhere else.

She'd have to work on a title for it.

"What about you, Sirius? Slytherin?"

At that, Sirius made a gagging noise and stuck his finger in his mouth. "Merlin's pants, I hope not! Just because my whole family was doesn't mean I have to be."

"True." James muttered, and they fell into an awkward silence. Maybe she could call her house Lupin: home of the misfits. At least that was a bit shorter.

Her neck was _hurting_. She had to crack it. Now. Just really quickly. Remus cracked her neck to the side and sighed in relief as the pain subsided. She should have checked her robes. She didn't notice that it had slipped down a bit and revealed a portion of her collar bone.

Sirius was starring at Remus. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Finally the darker haired boy spoke up.

"Rem, what's that from?" Sirius asked. Remus looked down to where he was pointing and almost jumped out of her skin. The scar was showing, and now James was starring too. Remus pulled her robe up, and tried to curl up into a tiny call of nothing.

"Um..I..uh..Cat." she said quickly. "My dad has this cat that is really mean. It, uh, it scratched me good."

James and Sirius looked at each other like they were buying it, and then they busted out in a fit of laughter. Remus just smiled and gave a few small chuckles.

"Could you brainless twits keep it down in there?" Snivellus asked. Everyone stopped giggling. Remus suddenly noticed that her feet were the most interesting thing in the world. Seriously, where had they been her whole life? Well, right there, but they were never this interesting.

"What did you call me, Snivelly?" James asked.

_Look at that, there is a speck on my left shoe._

"Must I speak any slower?"

_When did that speck get there?_

"Could. You. Brainless. _Twits_. Keep. It. Down. In. Here?"

_I really hope it washes off. These are new shoes._

"Twits? I'll show you, you slimy snake!"

"Slimy snake? Is that the best you got, Potter?"

"What about Snivellus, Snivellus, the boy with the nose so large everyone was sure that's where he kept his wand?"

_Oh, there the speck goes. That's nice. I'm glad my shoes aren't-_

Snivellus had suddenly pulled out a long, dark wand, and Remus' eyes finally rose from the floor. James' mouth had dropped open, and now Sirius wasn't laughing, but standing next to James with a look on his face that was completely and utterly, well, serious.

"You aren't supposed to have that!" Sirius said. James touched his arm lightly.

"Don't worry, Snivelly won't do anything rash or stupid, oh, wait, he is wanting to be a part of the Slytherins."

At that, Snivellus began saying some words that were unknown to Remus, but they sounded bad. The end of his wand began to flicker with light, and her body regained some of its strength. She stood and pushed James, along with Sirius, down to the ground, and took the hex.

Her body collapsed back on the chair and her back arched off the leather. It hurt so much, and there was a pop, a crack. She strained to open her eyes and saw James and Sirius standing above her.

"Get back!" she screamed. "Get back!"

They listened, but they didn't get out of the compartment. She was going to kill everyone on this train. But then, she felt the first boil. She wasn't changing. The other boils popped up all over her body. They popped like bubble wrap, each movement sending another two or three exploding. A soft hand touched her shoulder, and she smiled, which popped even more, but it didn't hurt all that much. Sirius smiled back, aghast.

"You just…you…wow." Was all he could say.

"What are you doing, standing there, Severus?" James yelled, slipping out of the nickname in his panic. Remus couldn't believe all the worry she was hearing.

"I..I'm so so-"

"Go get some help!"

"I didn't mean-"

"GO get a prefect, now!" James bellowed. He stood straight, barking the order at Severus with such force that Remus almost wanted to get up and go find her own help. James turned to her, and his expression softened.

"You didn't have to do that." He said.

Remus shrugged, ignoring the slight pain she felt. "Thought he could be casting a much worse hex."

"Worse than boils?" Sirius asked with a shudder. Remus nodded her swollen head.

"Could be puking slugs." Oh, how she wished she could say, "Could be ripping out of your own skin at every full-moon."

"Ew!" James and Sirius said at the same time. They stood by her until a prefect came and sorted the boil problem out, and they still stayed. They stayed together the whole ride to Hogwarts. They, together, looked out the window in awe.

It was strange to feel this way, but Remus knew that they were going to be friends. Hell, they already were.


	4. Lily Evans

Remus was excited for everything. For her seven years at this school. For her new friends. For her classes. She was a part of Gryffindor! She couldn't believe it, but the hat barely even sat on her head before it called out the wonderful name. Remus Lupin was a Gryffindor.

She wasn't sure if she truly deserved it, but she was glad that her friends would all be with her. She raced up the stairs to the dorms so she could get some rest before her classes the next day. Her body was still so sore, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins helped her legs.

She made it up to her room, and smiled at it. It was wonderful. Another girl came in shortly after her. Her hair was long and a beautiful red.

"Hello, my name is Lily Evans." She introduced herself. Remus shook her hand.

"Remus Lupin."

"Remus? I am so sorry about what happened on the train." Lily said.

"It was nothing, I'm fine."

"Sev tried to apologize, he really did, he just got so angry he tried to hit Potter. He never meant to hit you."

"It's alright. I'm fine." Remus repeated. Lily smiled at her sweetly, her green eyes filled with such sympathy it almost made Remus sick.

"It was brave." Lily said as Remus put the last of her socks in the drawer. Remus kept her back turned so the other girl couldn't see the smile on her face.

"No it wasn't. It was stupid, I wasn't thinking, I just stood there."

Lily said nothing else, but Remus had a feeling she knew that was a lie.


	5. First Year

Her classes were finally here. Remus' whole life she couldn't wait until this moment. It was finally time for her to learn to do magic. If she studied hard enough, perhaps, just perhaps, she could find a cure.

First she had potions with James and a smaller, rounder boy that followed him around like duckling. It was kind of cute, in a way. Then she had charms with Sirius, and then lunch. After lunch she had Defense Against the Dark Arts with James Sirius, and that smaller boy, and then she had Astronomy with Sirius and the smaller boy whose name she found out was Peter.

The first day was easy. It was mainly teachers explaining what they're expectations for their students were. Remus was beginning to relax a bit around her friends, and it was nice.

Over the next few weeks, however, homework started piling up, and Remus spent most of her time coaching the others in DADA, charms, and astronomy. Those were the classes she was best at. DADA was so easy for her due to the fact that she happened to be one of the creatures you learned to defend yourself against. Charms just clicked with her, and astronomy was something she was rather forced to learn at a young age. The only thing she did not understand was potions. She had to stay after class and get help, but that only made it to where she was scraping by in the class.

At least she was no longer making coughing potions that turned her green with a purple tongue. The _professor_ didn't even know how she managed to mess it up that bad. Sirius joked that it was her true gift.

"Guys," James complained, sprawled out on a chair. It was two o'clock in the morning, and they were all frantically cramming for their finals.

"What?" Peter asked, nibbling on a piece of cheese.

"Let's take a break."

"I'm for that!" Sirius said. Remus rolled her eyes and hit him with her book. He let out a sharp yelp, and Remus wanted to call him a baby. She didn't hit him _that_ hard.

"No. You all just took a break three minutes ago."

Sirius rubbed his sore arm and pouted.

"Those puppy dog eyes don't work on me." Remus snapped and put her nose back into her potions book.

"What's gotten into you?" James asked.

"Yeah?" Peter seconded, as he always did with James.

"Nothing." She snapped once more. Sirius smiled his mischievous smile that read, "We found a soft spot, lets annoy the crap out of her until she spills it."

"Guy problems?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Yes." Remus said sarcastically. "I am so completely infatuated with a man that I can't have. Good for you."

"Who?" James asked, obviously not getting her sarcasm.

"You." She said, the one word dripping in as much sarcasm and "duh" as she could manage. He still did not get it.

"She's joking." Sirius helped. James brushed it off like of course he knew the entire time. Remus rolled her eyes once more.

"So what is it, then?" James asked. "Got a problem with us?"

"No!"

"Are you secretly a criminal?"

"No."

"Are you upset about the whole getting you in detention thing?"

"I'm over that."

"Is this about laughing when you fell off your broom? Because come on, that was pretty funny. Even Peter managed to stay on his!"

"NO."

"What is it then?" James said, exasperated. He flopped down on his back, his limbs strewn over the sides of the chair. Peter finally looked up from his parchment.

"Is it a girl problem?" he asked.

"What's a girl problem?" Sirius and James asked at the same time. James started laughing, "Breaking a nail?"  
"Or finding out that Linda snogged Joey, the guy you called dibs on?" Sirius added in. The two boys started laughing, until Remus told them to shut up before Filch came.

"Those aren't girl problems." Remus said.

"Then what are?"

"Peter," Remus said, sugar coating her voice, "Since you suggested it, you explain it."

Peter looked like a deer in the headlights. His beady little eyes protruded from his sockets.

"Umm…well, you guys know, once a month, girls um…you know." He mumbled. Sirius and James both looked slightly confused. "They have their period." He finally said in a whisper of a voice.

James and Sirius started gagging. "Ew! Too much information, Remmy!"

Remus just smiled. If only they knew that her "monthly" was much, much worse than other girls.

"Now get back to studying before I tell you all about my 'girl problems'." That got them to shut up.


	6. Year Two: Patronus

**Hello! This is the start of year two, beginning with Remus' summer. Thanks for the review and all the favorites and follows! I also want to say a special thank you to Snow6594 who will be translating this fanfic into Chinese! **

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Remus' summer was not all that great. She received many letters from her boys, and couldn't help but smile at each and every one of them. Sirius had somehow managed to get his hag of a mother to agree to let him go over to James' house, and it now seemed that James' mother was dead set on adopting the boy. Poor Peter could only send a letter once a month. His father was a drunkard and didn't allow owls in the house. Remus felt bad for him. All his letters seemed to have this rushed feeling, like he was writing in secret.

All the letters had one thing in common, though: atrocious handwriting. She was going to have to teach those guys some penmanship. She sent a letter each week, and they started out pretty happy. She was studying, which none o them found surprising, and she said that the "sick aunt" she had used as an excuse not to go to Harry's was steadily improving.

Then, it all took a turn for the worst. She woke up on the cold floor of the basement, hurting more than usual. She glanced down and almost screamed. Her stomach. Her stomach was torn open. She forced herself to try and keep her breath steady, but she was freaking out. She was bleeding too fast. She was going to die. Tears welled in her eyes, and the next thing she knew she was sobbing, screaming for her father. She kept screaming and screaming, but he never came to the door.

Remus managed to get up in a sitting position and wrapped some shreds of clothing and hay over her wound. It burned. Why had she tried to kill herself? Now wasn't the time for questions, though, she had to do something. That's when she remembered her wand. She had wrapped it up in the blanket because she liked to use it as a flashlight in the early mornings. But, she wasn't allowed to do magic outside of school.

This was an emergency. She screamed once more for her father, but no replies came. She crawled over to her compartment, and forced bile back down in her throat when she smelled something terrible. She grabbed her wand in a sticky, bloody hand, and sat back up against a wall. She did not know a healing spell strong enough, and she was, she was falling…unconscious.

Remus forced her head up and thought of the only powerful spell that she had read about in her Defense Against Dark Arts book. It was called the patronous spell, and all she had to do was think of a happy thought, so she thought of reading those letters, and she yelled out the words, "Expecto Patronum."

A silver light erupted from the end of her wand, and she fell against the wet stones.


	7. Back to Hogwarts

"Remus?" The kind voice asked. Remus blinked slowly several times, and saw the familiar room of the infirmary of Hogwarts. What was she doing here?

"You are going to be staying here at Hogwarts for the remainder of your summer." The kind voice explained.

Staying there…but why, her father, she had to see her father. He had to be worrying about her.

"You were very weak when we found you. If it had not been for that patronous you released, you would have died. I talked to the Ministry, and it was unanimous. You can go to school. You will not be expelled for performing magic since it was obviously an emergency. There will be no trial."

Remus looked into the eyes that peered over the half-moon glasses. Dumbledore's eyes seemed different than normal. They seemed to be…tired.

"My… father." She croaked.

"Remus, I am sorry to ell you this, but your father is sick."

Sick. No. Not her father. He couldn't be sick, and if he was, she had to take care of him!  
"It is nothing you can fix, I am afraid. Your father has an illness in his head."

Remus knew what that meant. Her father was going insane. Of course he was going insane. His wife died and left him with a child he had to raise himself, and soon a monster he had to raise all on his own. He had to listen to his child turn into a beast that any sane man would have murdered.

This was all her fault.

Dumbledore grabbed her hand lightly, "Child, We all have both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we chose to act on. That's who we really are."

Remus smiled half-heartedly.

"Lemon drop?" He offered. Remus took the candy and popped it into her mouth.

"Oh, and Remus," Dumbledore said before he left, "This year, we have a new place for you to go during the full moon. There is a Whomping Willow. Hit the knot, and it will freeze. There is a tunnel underneath it that will take you to a special place where you won't have to be chained."

"Thank you, Headmaster."


	8. You have a Type?

"Remus!" Sirius and James exclaimed as they ran towards her at the Gryffindor table. Sirius wrapped his arms around her and squeezed tightly, and suddenly another pair of arms was around her as James was hugging her too.

It hurt, but it was a good type of hurt. Remus smiled, and was secretly sad when they pulled away.

"Hey, sorry about your sucky summer." Sirius said as he grabbed a huge plate of food.

"It wasn't too bad, I got to study even more, and even had some lessons on potions."

James ruffled her hair and smiled, "There's our Remus."

"You guys excited for this year?" Sirius asked with his mouth full.

"Hell yeah!" James said, "Quidditch try outs!"

"I'm excited about Transfiguration." Remus said quietly.

"_I'm_ excited about…" Sirius' voice trailed off as he watched some fifth year girls walk by. Remus laughed.

"You don't have a chance with them."

"Oh, really?" Sirius said, his cheeks bulging with mashed potatoes. "It's a good thing then that they're not my type."

"You have a type?" James asked, "I thought your type was 'women'."

Remus couldn't help but snort as she tried to take a drink of her pop.

"No, my type is short haired brunettes that are oh so shy, but very smart." Sirius said, giving Remus his best "charming" smolder.

"Ha! In your dreams."

"You are." He winked.

Remus laughed and leaned forward towards Sirius, "Too bad you're not my type."

"You have a type?" Sirius asked.

Dumbledore called for attention, and everyone stopped talking. Sirius whispered to Remus, "Wait, you have a type?"  
"Shut up!" she whispered back.


	9. Wormtail

"I made it!" James yelled to Remus from across the hallway. "I'm on the team!" Remus laughed and ran towards James, giving him a big high five.

"That's great!" she said.

"That is wonderful, Potter." A familiar voice said. It was Severus. Oh, no. Remus just wanted to disappear again.

_Oh look, there's some dust on my robe._

"Sev, stop." Lily said, trying to pull her friend away.

"Yes, _Sev_. Listen to your little girlfriend and stop."

"I am not his girlfriend, you big headed pig!" Lily yelled.

_Good thing these are my first year robes. _

"Tut tut." James clicked. "It's a shame that such a pretty girl has a temper."

_Kind of sad I didn't grow enough to get another pair._

"You're James Potter, aren't you?"

"The one and only."

_Maybe I'll grow some more this year._

"You _are_ a git."

With that, Lily walked away. James stood there, his mouth slightly ajar, watching the girl and her friend go further and further down the hall. Remus swiped off the front of her robe.

"Who was that?" he asked, his voice slightly dreamy.

"Uh, Lily Evans." Remus said. "She's one of my roommates."

"She's amazing."

Remus always knew something was wrong inside of that funny head of his. Perhaps it was the hair. It made him all loony. "Come on, lover boy, we are already late for lunch, and I'm starving."

"You've been eating a lot, Rem. Aren't you afraid you'll actually fit your clothes?"

"Ha-ha, James. I've just been hungry."

"Extra potion lessons making you hungry?" he asked as innocently as possible. Remus groaned. This year was becoming increasingly difficult to hide her secret. They just kept seeing through all of her excuses.

"I haven't had time to eat because I've been studying." She said, and sat down next to Peter.

"Hi." He said quietly, his face red.

"Something happen?"

"Oh, something happened, didn't it, _Wormtail_?" Sirius asked the chagrinned Peter.

"I might have gotten my spell wrong in Transfiguration."

"What happened?" Remus asked, her voice dropping into the sweet mother one she used when her friends were hurt. Sirius smiled wider.

"I, uh," Peter swallowed. "I hit myself with the spell."

Remus just starred at him.

"I don't know how, but next thing I knew, I had a rat's tail."

Sirius busted out laughing like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

"It looked like a worm! And it kept wiggling around, and he started screaming!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Sirius Black." Remus said and he went silent. She never called him by his full name. "Stop teasing Peter or I'll tell him about-"

"No!" Sirius swallowed. "I mean, I promise I'll stop teasing Peter."

Remus smiled and dug into her food.


	10. Remus, a Werewolf?

"Can you believe Remus just blew us off, _again_?" Sirius asked as he lay down on his bed. James circled a spell in his book for future uses, and laid down his pen.

"Since she's been blowing us off since we first met her, yeah, actually I can."

"What do you think she's doing?" Peter asked quietly in his mousy voice.

"Think she's seeing a guy?" Sirius asked as he stared up at the ceiling.

"Maybe she's hanging out with Lily." James said. Sirius sighed. Every time Potter mentioned Evans' name he went all dreamy.

"Or," he spoke up to break the dreamy spell, "she could just be having some time to herself. Girl's need that 'alone time' right?"

James nodded his head like it was a reasonable answer, but Peter was still sitting on his bed, messing with something. That kid was always fiddling with crap.

"Have you guys seen her scars?" he finally asked, his voice barely making it to Sirius and James. James really, really wished that boy would just speak up for a change. He final got Remus speaking clearly, now he just had to work on this little mouse.

"Yeah." Sirius and James both said. It was kind of strange to be talking about this. They all wondered what those scars were from, and they all knew the obvious reason for how they got there, but no one would say it.

"Do you think she gave them to herself?" Okay, exception: only people without brains would ever say it, especially around Sirius.

"Are you trying to say that Remus is a cutter?" Sirius bellowed. Peter flinched back towards the corner of his bed. James felt like sighing. It was the basic rule of their friendship. Rule #1: Don't piss off Sirius. And they all knew the one way to truly piss him off was to talk poorly about Remus.

"No, no, I'm just saying maybe she did when she wasn't in the….right…mindset."

"Are you calling her loony? Just because her father-"

"Sirius!" James stopped him from continuing. Poor Peter was already up against his corner. That kid got enough of this at home.

"What do you mean, Pete?" He asked as kindly as he could.

"Once a month, Remus blows us off, right?"

They both nodded their heads in agreement.

"It's always on the full moon." Peter said. "What if…what if she's a werewolf?" The room went silent. James was the first to loose his composure, and Sirius followed right behind him. They laughed so hard; Sirius rolled off the bed and hit the floor with a thud.

"That's great." James said, wiping a tear from his eye as another hand held his cramping stomach. "That's even better than Mr. Hagpit being a vampire."

"But he is! And what if-"

"Remus is not a werewolf." Sirius said in between laughs.

"How do you know?" Peter crossed his arms and looked dead into Sirius' dark eyes.

"Wormtail, Remus is the sweetest girl we've ever met, plus she can't lie to save her life. Do you honestly think that at the full moon she turns into a beast? If so, she'd be like the teddy bear of werewolves."

James began to laugh some more, "Yeah, she'd just roll around on the ground smelling flowers and apologizing to bugs she stepped on."

Peter hung his head. "I guess you guys are right."

"Damn straight, we are." James said. Sirius laughed.

"Careful, if Remus catches that foul mouth on you, she just might go werewolf on your hide."

If only they knew that a few miles away, in an abandoned house now dubbed the shrieking shack, there was girl trapped inside the body of a beast that was slowly tearing itself into shreds.


	11. The Marauders

James practically skipped down the hall to Sirius and Peter who were just standing there, starring at him.

"Hey guys!" he said merrily. "You won't believe it. Today, Lily yelled at me again, and this time she…" his voice trailed off. Both of their faces looked pale. Sirius' eyes were dull and glazed over.

"Is something wrong?"

"Remus." Peter said, as if Sirius could not speak, "No one has seen her all night, or this morning."

"Do you think something's wrong with her, maybe she's sick."

"_No_ one." Peter repeated. "Some of the staff is out looking for her."

James couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Looking for her, where could she be? Remus would never leave the grounds, especially past curfew. "

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "I just hope she's not hurt."

Sirius would not meet James's eyes, but he could see the tears streaming down the other boys cheeks. Remus and Sirius had this…profound bond in a way. It seemed like they never should have been friends, but somehow, it worked. They all worked. All of them, the misfit toys. The rebels. The marauders.

"Let's go to class." James said. He truly wanted nothing more than to go out and look for Remus, but he knew that she would have wanted them to stay here since they had already skipped enough this semester. Peter nodded, and Sirius walked behind them. They made their way down empty corridors, until James heard Sirius gasp. He turned around, and they all started running at once. It was Remus. She was limping up towards the stairs, a long stick in her hand.

They stopped when they neared her. Something was wrong. Something had gotten ahold of Remus and…it…it hurt her. She glanced up slowly towards her friends, smiled, and collapsed. Sirius caught her in his arms and flinched.

"James, she's bleeding."

He could see that. Pools of blood were dripping at her feet, soaking the robe she wore. An arm dropped from her side, and they could all see the scratches upon scratches that worked their way up like patches on her skin.

James shook his head to get his train of thought working again.

"Madam Pomfrey. Now." It was all he could say, and thankfully, Sirius understood. He alone was able to carry her frail body all the way up the stairs to the infirmary.

"Boys, I'm sorry, but you are…" Her voice stopped when she saw Remus in their arms.

"Mr. Black, go lay her down on an empty bed, and then I need all of you to leave."

"We're not leaving her." James said.

"You have to go to class."

"No."

That no didn't come from James, and it sure didn't come from Sirius who was laying Remus down carefully onto a cot. It was from Peter Pettigrew. The shy, quiet, eyes always looking at the floor, Peter Pettigrew.

"Excuse me, sir?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"I said, no, ma'am." His voice was shaky, but he was doing it! Wormtail was speaking up! "We are her friends, we found her, and we want to be here for her."

Pomfrey starred at Peter for a moment, and then heard a small groan from Remus.

"Fine. But stay out of my way."

James couldn't help but smile and pat Peter on the back for a job well done, but then he heard a cry. It was a high pitched cry that sounded more like a wounded animal than human.

Sirius was sitting beside Remus's bed, holding her hand in his. She was screaming as Madam Pomfrey removed her robe and began saying spells none of them understood. James stood there, and he did _not_ hold Peter close. Okay, maybe he did, but it was because he was scared for his best friend's life. Remus was the glue that held them all together, without her, none of them would be making it through classes, and they would all have been kicked out of school a long time ago.

It only took a few minutes before Remus was clean and sleeping in another bed. Madam Pomfrey had left to go tell the others that Remus had been found, and the three boys sat around her bed.

"You were right." Sirius said as he watched Remus sleep.

"What do you mean?" James was glad Remus had lived. She seemed so much better now, lying there peacefully with white blankets wrapped tightly around her thin body.

"I saw the bite. It's on her calf." Sirius explained. "Remus is a werewolf."

James couldn't take any of this nonsense, not today.

"Remus is _not_ a werewolf!"

"How else do you explain it, Potter?" Sirius was ticked, again. "Do you want to think that Remus did this to herself as a _human_?"

"No! Something, someone did this to her!"

"Who? A monster in the Forbidden Forest?"

"Of course!" James exclaimed.

"Would Remus ever go into the _Forbidden_ Forest? Would she?"

James sat there, not speaking. No. Remus would never do something like that. She had to go apologize to a teacher for stealing a pen for Merlin's sake. She'd never be able to go off into the forest on her own.

"What do we do now?" Peter asked.

"You're the expert." James said, "Tell us what you know on Werewolves."

"All I know is that they had to be infected with lycanthropy by a bite from another werewolf, and that they turn into a half-wolf half-humanoid creature at the full moon."

The three boys fell back into silence once more.

"We help her." James finally said. "We have to tell her that we know, and we help her. We make it easier on her. Even if its something as little as taking extra good notes in class for the day she misses or giving her some of our food, we help."


	12. Third Year

**Sorry about going dormant there for a bit, guys. Hey, maybe I can get the rest of this thing uploaded by tomorrow! :)**

* * *

The summer wasn't that bad this time, for the boys, that is. Remus was doing better, but now she felt like a small bird whose mamas wouldn't stop asking about how she was feeling in every single letter!

"How you feeling Moony?"

"Everything good, Remus?"

"That furry little problem not too bad I hope."

"Is it getting close to that time of the month?"

It was sweet of them to care so much, but Remus didn't like the way they called it her furry little problem and joked about it being 'that time of the month'. They didn't understand what it did to her. They still didn't get it that she didn't turn into this giant puppy dog. They knew now of her scars, and how she hurts herself during the full moon, but they kept making suggestions like,

"Let's all go with you. We can keep you calm and stop you from hurting yourself."

She never let them because that would just be dumb. She could bite one of them, or worse, she could kill her best friends. How could she live with herself then? It was nice to not lie to them anymore.

Their third year was not exactly the most exciting one in the world. James picked on Sev, and tried to hit on Lily. Remus studied. Peter got a girlfriend, which was actually the most surprising thing in the world, and Sirius grew like four inches and his voice started getting deeper which made Remus laugh every time it cracked.

All the boys needed haircuts desperately, and Remus managed to talk them into one. They looked great, much more dapper, in her opinion, but they all just kind of pouted about the "death" of their "glorious" hair.

And every full moon, Remus turned, and every morning, the boys came to the shrieking shack with clothes and food. Sirius even learned some strong healing spells, and she was able to stop going to Madam Pomfrey every single time.

The Marauders grew closer, but soon, the tests were all done, and they were all going separate ways for summer. Sirius had to stay at his home, James was going on a vacation to Egypt, and Peter was going to watch his dad try to drink himself to death.


	13. Damocles

**I'm not entirely sure if this is all canonly correct, but I like the idea. :)**

* * *

Remus sat in front of her window. Dumbledore gave her a room all to herself, and it was the greatest thing in the world. She got a job down at Hogsmeade, and saved up money to buy herself some small decorations. Today, however, she was bored. She had nothing to do, and there hadn't been any word from her friends in the past three weeks.

She decided to go exploring. It was only five minutes into walking around the school that she ran into a tall man with long red hair.

"I'm so sorry." She muttered. "I didn't know anyone else was here, and I was-"

"Are you Remus J. Lupin?" The man asked.

"Yes." She said and blushed. He had to be one of the staff. They all knew her name, and it was surprisingly not because of her lycanthropy. Her brains set her apart from most students.

"I'm Teddy Damocles the new Defense against the dark arts professor."

Remus shook his hand and smiled, "It's nice to meet you, Professor."

"Are you dying of boredom?" He asked, clapping his hands together. Remus shook her head yes.

"Why don't we get out of here? Have you been school shopping yet?"

"No, sir, but Dumbeldore usually-"

"Ah, I'll tell him where we're going. Besides, I am not going to Hogsmeade. It's even more boring then this place. I mean, have you even been to the Shrieking Shack?"

Remus laughed on the inside. As a matter of fact, she had _given_ the shack its name.

"I have. It's just an old run down shack."

"Exactly." Damocles said, and he was off. He kept talking as he gathered his bags. Remus looked around his room. It was so much nicer than how the last DADA teacher had it. It was full of light, and there were creatures in cages all around. This year was going to be great.

"Right then. Ready?" he asked. Remus shook her head, and suddenly they were in Diagon Alley. Remus took some more of her money out of Gringotts and then they went to get her uniforms.

Remus couldn't help but notice how much she had grown over the past year and this summer. She was finally out of that awkward pup stage. She was now five feet and four inches and, even more surprisingly, she filled out the front of all her shirts. She bought her clothes, and then Damocles took her to a Muggle restaurant. He talked the entire time about everything and anything, and finally, he started quizzing her on DADA since he had heard about her skills.

"Alright. What's a boggart?"

"It's a creature that can physically turn itself into your worst fear, all you have to do is think of your fear in a funny form, and say, Riddikulus."

"Amazing. How do you know that?"

Remus shrugged, "I love reading."

"Okay then, a more difficult one. Tell me all you know about werewolves."

Remus almost spit out her drink.

"We aren't supposed to learn about those until sixth year."

"Yeah, but what do you know now?"

"Well," Remus wanted to say, "Her name is Remus J. Lupin, and she is sitting across from you", but somehow felt that that would be rude.

"Werewolves are humans infected by lycanthropy. You can only be infected if a werewolf on the full moon bites you. Anything can kill a werewolf, not just silver, like the Muggles think. Not much is known about werewolves besides that. People don't know if the disease can be passed along genetically or if younger kids can even survive lycanthropy. I do know that the change is extremely painful, and that a werewolf cannot control itself during its transformations. If there is nothing around for it to fight or hunt, it hurts itself. It bites and tears and can even try to kill itself."

She went quiet and took a long drink of her milkshake. Then, realization hit her. She had just said that. All of that. Every single word came out of her mouth. And Damocles was staring at her.

"Remus."

"I want to go back to Hogwarts now." She said.

"Remus, please, I'm not going to-"

"I want to go back to Hogwarts, please." She said again.

He grabbed her arm, and they appeared back in his room.

"Remus," he said once more, his hand tight on her arm, "I already knew."

"What." She breathed.

"Dumbledore already told me. Have you ever heard my name before?"

"No."

"Ever since I met Fenir Greyback I've been studying lycanthropy."

Remus could have sworn that her heart stopped. Fenir. That was the man that bit her. She never knew why, all that she knew was that at five years old, she was bitten on the calf by a werewolf.

"I'm a potioneer specializing in werewolves and other magical…creatures." She knew he was going to say beasts but stopped himself. He must think of her as a monster. He was going to hunt her, kill her, or experiment. Or even worse. He could expose her to the Magic Community. Everyone hated werewolves. She'd never get a job. She'd never marry.

"Remus, I'm here to help you."

"Piss off!" she yelled, trying to pull herself from his iron like grip. Her wand poked her in her back. She couldn't do magic, not again, but if it came to that, she was willing to.

"Remus, please."

"Tell me." She spat, "How you plan on helping a _monster_ like me. Stake to the heart?"

"No." he said, his eyebrows knitted together. His eyes seemed so soft, so blue, but how could she believe someone like him?

"I'm not going to kill you. I want to _help_ you. I want to find a potion or make one that'll help you through your transformations." Damocles eased up on his grip, and Remus wrenched away. She faced the bright windows that didn't seem so great anymore.

"Do you think you can find a cure?"

"Sweatheart," his hand touched the top of her shoulder, but retracted quickly. "There is no cure."

No cure.

No hope.

Maybe he could make it better. Easier. The transformations had been getting worse lately.

"What do I have to do, to help you?"


	14. Animagi

James came running into the boys' room and skidded to a stop.

"You won't guess what happened." He said as he tried to catch his breath. Sirius did not bother to look up from the book he was reading. Merlin's pants, Remus was rubbing off on him.

"Lily rejected you, again?"

"Yes, but that's not it."

"You learned not to run in the halls." Tried Peter.

"No."

"You saw girls having a pillow fight."

"No." James said. "Guys, I was reading."

"There we go!" Sirius exclaimed. "I never would have guessed that!" Peter gave him a high five, and they both cracked up.

"I was reading, _and_ I found out about animagus."

Sirius gave him his signature, "I have no clue what you're talking about" look.

"Animagus are sorcerers that can transform into animals."

"Like werewolves?" asked Peter.

"Not really. They have control of themselves, and after the first few times, the transformation is painless."

"That's cool" Sirius popped a candy into his mouth. "What use is it to us though?"

"Guys," James breathed. "If we learn this, we can be with Remus on the full moon."

Peter choked on his treat. "What? No we can't!"

"No." Sirius said. "This is great! As animals, we can be with her!"

"Have you gone bonkers?"

"Damocles told Remus that in all his studies, no werewolf has ever harmed an animal." James said, growing more and more excited.

"So," Sirius finished, "As animals she won't have to worry about hurting us."

"Unless," Peter said, "It can smell the human in us."

"She won't be able to do that." James said, pointing to his book, "Because we _will_ be animals."

'How difficult is the spell?" Sirius asked. That's when the smile dropped off James's face.

"It's very advanced. And, it's illegal to learn it at our age. You're supposed to become registered and take classes once your twenty."

"Illegal?" Peter's voice was barely a squeak. "We can't!"

"When has illegal stopped us before?" Sirius asked.

"Never."

* * *

"Ms. Lupin, can I see you after class?" Professor Damocles asked. The rest of the class was excused, and Sirius looked at her once before leaving, and she nodded, letting him know that it was okay.

"Yes, Damocles?" she asked as she took a seat in his teacher's chair. She loved being able to do that. And she would never dare call him Damocles in front of class instead of Professor, but it was so easy to fall back into her routine once class ended.

"Tonight is the full moon. Remember, take this," he handed her a vial of purple potion, "before you go to the shack. I'll tag along with your friends and meet you there in the morning. Good luck." He smiled and she hopped up off her chair, running to meet up with the others.

James was smiling like a fool.

"Hey Moony!" They all called out, and Sirius wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Hello pretty lady, are you doing anything tonight?" Remus rolled her eyes and pushed his arm up and over her shoulders.

"Siri, that's not funny anymore."

"Sure it is!"

"Can you ever be serious?"

"I'm always-"

"Okay," James said, "stop flirting for just a minute, and come see what I found." He led them down a hall that they were probably not supposed to be, and suddenly, a door formed, and James lead them in.

"What is this?" Remus asked.

"I don't know, but I call it the Room of Requirement, because whatever you think you need, it becomes."

"We can plan so many pranks here." Sirius said, and James clapped him on the back.

"Exactly."


	15. The Werewolf and her Friends

Remus woke up and the first thing she did was vomit. Black bile erupted from her throat and it burned. She had to stop and gather herself, pushing a fly away back behind her ear. She wiped her mouth off with the back of her bare arm and grabbed the blanket to wrap around herself. The wounds were still there, if not worse.

She tried to take a step and crumpled over in a heap, vomiting once more. She heard the door creak open and her friends stepped out.

"Hey, Rem! How's it…" Sirius didn't need to finish his question. He quickly ran over and helped move her so she wasn't lying in a pool of her filth. James cleaned it up with a simple spell as Damocles came over to their side.

"Remus, what happened?"

Remus had to sit there for a moment as her memories replayed. She never told him about how she could remember what she had done. She was never going to tell anyone that.

"I…I woke up, and started getting sick." She said weakly.

"How do you feel?"

"How does she feel?" Sirius snapped. "Look at her! She doesn't look like she's doing bloody well, does she? Why don't you do something useful and get her a drink of water?"

"I didn't…"

"There's some in the bag I brought." Sirius said, and pulled out his wand. "Got any major wounds this time, Moony?"

Remus coughed as some more vomit made its way up her throat, "No."

He whispered a few words and Remus smiled up into his grey eyes.

"Thank you, Siri."

Damocles handed her a bottle and she swallowed it down in one gulp.

"Are you always this thirsty?" he asked. Remus held out her hand as she shook her head. Sirius nodded towards the bag.

"I always bring four. She drinks three, but I always bring an extra just in case."

Damocles quickly came back with the other bottles, and Remus drank two more before stopping.

"Thank you."

"Do you feel any different than usual times?"

"Yes." She said in a hoarse voice. "Worse. Much worse."

Damocles frowned.

"Come on," James said, "Let's get back to school."

The boys and one lone teacher let her get changed before James and Sirius helped carry/walk her back to the grounds. Damocles fell behind them, watching intently as the strange group of friends let a werewolf lean on them.

* * *

Remus woke up and the first thing she did was vomit. Black bile erupted from her throat and it burned. She had to stop and gather herself, pushing a fly away back behind her ear. She wiped her mouth off with the back of her bare arm and grabbed the blanket to wrap around herself. The wounds were still there, if not worse.

She tried to take a step and crumpled over in a heap, vomiting once more. She heard the door creak open and her friends stepped out.

"Hey, Rem! How's it…" Sirius didn't need to finish his question. He quickly ran over and helped move her so she wasn't lying in a pool of her filth. James cleaned it up with a simple spell as Damocles came over to their side.

"Remus, what happened?"

Remus had to sit there for a moment as her memories replayed. She never told him about how she could remember what she had done. She was never going to tell anyone that.

"I…I woke up, and started getting sick." She said weakly.

"How do you feel?"

"How does she feel?" Sirius snapped. "Look at her! She doesn't look like she's doing bloody well, does she? Why don't you do something useful and get her a drink of water?"

"I didn't…"

"There's some in the bag I brought." Sirius said, and pulled out his wand. "Got any major wounds this time, Moony?"

Remus coughed as some more vomit made its way up her throat, "No."

He whispered a few words and Remus smiled up into his grey eyes.

"Thank you, Siri."

Damocles handed her a bottle and she swallowed it down in one gulp.

"Are you always this thirsty?" he asked. Remus held out her hand as she shook her head. Sirius nodded towards the bag.

"I always bring four. She drinks three, but I always bring an extra just in case."

Damocles quickly came back with the other bottles, and Remus drank two more before stopping.

"Thank you."

"Do you feel any different than usual times?"

"Yes." She said in a hoarse voice. "Worse. Much worse."

Damocles frowned.

"Come on," James said, "Let's get back to school."

The boys and one lone teacher let her get changed before James and Sirius helped carry/walk her back to the grounds. Damocles fell behind them, watching intently as the strange group of friends let a werewolf lean on them.

* * *

**I don't know if you can tell, but I am combining these shorter scenes with others to make less chapters. **


	16. Furry Little Problem

"I'm going to miss you guys." Remus said gently as she gave them each a hug goodbye. James was sad that she had gone into that weird girl mode where she had to hug by digging her shoulders into your chest.

"Are you sure you don't want to come over to my place?" James asked. Remus shook her head yes.

"Sorry, but I need to stay here."

"All by yourself?" Peter asked.

"Yeah."

Damocles was leaving. Remus put on a strong face, but all the other boys saw the true pain she felt. He was leaving her. He said he had enough information, now he just had to go search the world for the right ingredients, but, well, you can never tell when someone is just lying to make the truth a bit more bearable.

"Too bad." Sirius said, "James and I are going to have a lot of fun." James smiled. Sirius was a lot like Remus, the way he put on a smile and a bad joke to dam up his true feelings. His mother disowned him. She blasted his name off their family tree all because Sirius hated them. He hated his family with every ounce of his being, and James loved him for that.

Sirius understood that having "pure blood" didn't entitle you to some majestic throne. James had never really thought about that stuff, but with Remus, and the news going around nowadays, it really made him think. What if all that awful stuff was happening to their Moony? What if she was being beaten or killed just because of her half-blood. He'd never make fun of anyone because of their blood. In fact, he'd do just the opposite. He swore, they all did, to stand up for those who were bullied. No one would ever call Remus a monster, or freak, not without having to go through the rest of the Marauders.

"I'll take this down time to read up more on the news." Remus said, her smile wavering for a split second. This was a serious time. Things were happening that they didn't really understand. Some people said a war was going to start, others said that a war had already started.

"Write us about anything you find out." James said. Remus smiled gently and smoothed down his hair.

"You really got to stop ruffling it up."

"Why? Looks dapper."

She rolled her green eyes, and James felt a warmth bubble up in his chest.

"You look like an idiot."

The warmth grew, and by Sirius's eyes, he knew the other boy was feeling the same. Even Peter was smiling, and he was about to head home. This was their true family, and leaving each other was always the worst part of the year. There would be no more detentions together, no more poking fun of Snivellus, no more trying to woo Lily Evans, no more waking up early to help put Remus back together, until next year, that is.

"We better get on the train." James said. Everyone's smile disappeared. He hated being the one to say it, but it had to be said.

"Bye, Remus." Peter said first.

"Bye, Peter."

"See you around, Remus. Don't let that furry problem get the best of you." Sirius said and held his arms out for a moment like he was going to hug her for a second time, but went for a pat on her arm.

"How will I ever survive?" she said sarcastically.

"Goodbye." James said simply and as he boarded the train, he messed up his hair.

_Moony,_

_ It's been great so far; I think my mother loves Sirius more than me. _

_ J. P._

_ Moon-Moon,_

_ You won't believe it, but someone finally thinks I'm better than Potter. I hope your summer is going better than mine._

_ Always, Sirius._

James and Sirius

You guys better keep writing to me. I'm dying of boredom here. Any upcoming plans I need to research?

R.L.

_Moon-Moon,_

_ James is being a butt and doesn't want to write, so this is from the both of us. Sorry to hear about you dying. Can I keep your books? Actually, we've been thinking of making something big. A map. A map of every room in Hogwarts._

_ Always, Sirius, and Sometimes, J.P._

James and Sirius,

A map? I can do that. It's not like I have anything else to do. These are the times I really wish summer was shorter.

R.L.

_Remus J. Lupin,_

_ Sorry for not writing earlier. I hope all is well. Enjoy your summer, and do not get into too much trouble._

_ Peter Pettigrew_

_ Moony,_

_ Sirius is sick. We think it's the flu. He'll be up on his feet in a few days, though, so no worries. Good luck with the map. Have you read the news? I hear there is some strange things happening, Moony. Keep safe._

_ (I am not a butt) J.P._

James,

Tell Sirius I hope he is back to his annoying self soon. I've been getting the news everyday from Hogsmeade. It is crazy, all this talk about that one really powerful wizard, Voldemort, right? And his followers. I heard they are trying to kill mixed bloods.

R.L.

_Moon-Moon_

_ I'm fine, thanks for the well wishes. I've heard about it too, it seems pretty crazy. I heard there has been a murder, a muggle murder. Can you believe that? A muggle family was murdered! There is still no evidence on whether or not it was magic related, but I think so. It irks me to think my parents are on the side of that messed up crazy head._

James and Sirius,

It's getting worse. I don't know why, but it's getting worse,

R.L.

_Remus,_

_ What's going on? Is it your furry problem? You haven't been hurting to much, have you?_

_ J.P and Sirius._

I'm fine. Sorry about that last letter, I was just feeling sick. I'm fine. I finished the sketching of the map, and as school starts, I'm going to practice this spell I learned.

R. L.

_Moon-Moon,_

_ Glad to hear that. Scared us for a bit. Don't do that again. Great job on the map! That didn't take you long at all. Keep in touch._

_ Always, Sirius._

_ Moony,_

_ Hey, is something going on? You haven't written in a week. _

_ J.P_

_ Remus,_

_ Remus, please reply to us. Even Peter is getting worried. _

_ J.P and Sirius._

_ Remus J. Lupin,_

_ Answer these letters! Please. Are you in trouble?_

_ J.P and Sirius_

_ Remus Joan Lupin,_

_ This isn't funny anymore. Seriously. Oh, and guess what, Sirius was adopted. That's right, mum loved him so much, she had to make it official._

_ J.P. And Sirius_

James and Sirius,

They say my dad is one of them. He's a Death Eater. He's going after people like me. Werewolves. Squibs. Congratulations on being adopted, Sirius.

R. L.


	17. Fifth Year

**Okay, so the fifth year gets off on a bumpy start.**

* * *

Remus did not know how to feel. She smiled when her friends came back, and they laughed and joked, but they never spoke of summer. They never mentioned the letters. She was glad they didn't. She did not want to talk about that.

And they didn't. Something seemed to stir in the boys this year. They were all taller than her now, expect for Peter who was just a bit shorter, and they all deep voices that made the girls swoon. It was pathetic, watching them talk about the mysterious "bad boys" and how much they wanted to snog Siri. Who'd want to snog him? All that long hair, those chapped lips, and those grey eyes starring back at you.

Yuck.

Lily still wasn't paying any attention to James. It was kind of funny in a way, and kind of annoying. She would always come to Remus afterwards and vent about her feelings towards James and Severus, and how they just needed to get along, and Remus wished she could just tell the green eyed girl that her and James were meant to be together, but even if she did, they were both too stubborn to ever apologize and finally get together.

Remus wasn't having much luck in the whole relationship department, and that was fine by her, personally. She wouldn't even know what to do with a boyfriend if she had one. How would she explain not wanting to cuddle or wear dresses or hold hands because she didn't like people touching her clammy hands, and how would she ever be able to look someone besides her best friends in the eyes for more than simple conversations?

It was kind of lucky that the guys didn't pay attention to her, or at least, they never acted on any attraction they felt towards her. She was happy being with her friends. In fact, that was when she was happiest.

Until they did something stupid like this. James and Sirius had Severus up by the ankles, his robes dangling over his head, and they were tormenting him. They were calling him awful names, and Remus was doing a pretty good job of tuning it out and pretending that she really did care that one of her index fingers was a bit longer than the others.

Lily stepped in, and tried to help Severus, but that's when he called her the name. The name. He called her a Mudblood. And that's when Remus dared to look up. She could feel the fire raging inside of her, but it wasn't directed towards Severus. It was directed towards the two teenage boys who egged him on.

Sirus and James started trying to go after Severus again.

"What did you call her?"

"How dare you-"

"Stop it!" Remus bellowed, and all the bystanders and the two boys turned and faced her. Lily ran off, crying, and Severus was already nowhere to be found.

"Just stop it! All of you go!" They starred at her. "GO!"

They all left, until Remus was standing in front of Sirius and James.

"You two," she said, pointing her wands at them, "You two make me sick."

"Remus," Sirius started.

"Sirius Black." Remus snapped, "By dropping down to the low of making fun of people based on their looks and attitude, you are no better than your family."

He went quiet, but James was now gaping at her.

"We didn't do anything."

"Yes you did! For five years you have been tormenting Severus!"

"Merlin, now you sound like Lily. What, you want to become a Death Eater too now?"

"Just because a person is interested in the Dark Arts means they are a Death Eater. A Death Eater is someone who is mean and stupid enough to judge people."

"But he-"

"It's still judging, no matter what it is."

"Come one Remus, he deserved it."

"Deserved it? What does he deserve? Huh? Punishment? For being who he is? I guess you think I deserve my sickness, then, don't I? Because I'm a filthy-"

"Don't say it." Sirius said suddenly. "Don't you ever call yourself that."

Remus stood there, and both boys expected her to laugh or somehow make this into a joke.

"Don't talk to me. Ever."

"Moony." He started, his grey eyes meeting hers. She hated those damn eyes.

"No. Stop it." She turned on her heel and walked away.


	18. Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs

Remus woke, and she was stiff. That was all. She was just stiff, like she had slept on a hard floor for a bit too long. She couldn't feel scabs being pulled apart, or smell any blood anywhere.

What had happened…oh, no. The memories came flooding back, and she remembered the creatures. The…the animals. The wolf could smell them. A Prongs, a Padfooted animal, and a small pesky thing.

And she almost killed them. All of them. Remus jumped up and ran from her spot, pulling the woolen blanket over her shoulders.

Outside James, Sirius, and Peter were all sitting on the ground, as if they were waiting of her, smiling, but she could see the tired expression on all of their faces.

"What the _bloody_ hell did you do?" she screeched.

"Hey Remus!"

"Don't you just sit there and smile and say hello like you haven't done anything wrong, Sirius Orion Black."

His face fell, and James started snickering.

"Dude, your middle name is Orion?"

"And you, Mr. Potter." She said, "This was all your idea wasn't it? Do you guys want to die?"

"Remus," Peter said quietly, "We were just trying to help you."

"By turning into Animagi?"

"I didn't know you knew what that was."

Remus grabbed Sirius by his shirt and pulled him towards her.

"Did I bite you?"

'What-no, Moon-moon, we only played."

"You are all ignorant, inconsiderate buffoons! Wait. I did what?"

James shrugged, trying to keep his smile under control. "You didn't hurt us. All you did was play. I even learned how to throw a stick with my antlers. You really liked that."

Remus just stood there with her mouth agape. Had she really only played with them? She racked her memories. She couldn't remember feeling animosity towards any of the other animals, only companionship. She even remembered howling and the pad-footed one joined in on her song.

"Did I…did I really run around catching sticks?"

Sirius smiled. "You also smelled my butt."

"I…I what?"

Peter couldn't even keep his giggles under wrap.

"I think werewolf you has the hots for Siri."

"I still can't believe you guys did this as an apology." She said as she reluctantly gave up and smiled. James put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed.

"What did you want? Flowers and chocolate?"

"That would have been nice."

Sirius walked up in front of them and turned to face Sirius, walking backwards like he could his whole life. He whipped out a bar of chocolate and handed it to her.

"See, James? That's how you get a girl. Give her chocolate and let her smell your butt."


	19. Snape Knows

The end of their fifth year. It felt like it went by in a blink of the eye. It tore the friends apart, but it also put them back together stronger than they ever felt before. They were all on track for their O.W.L's. Sirius and James managed to get their grades up to match Remus's and Peter's. She was so proud of her boys, but also kind of scared of the future. School was almost over completely, and she didn't know what she was going to do afterwards.

The boys wanted to be aurors, and she did too, she really honestly did, but how could she? Aurors had to have great grades _and_ a complete background check. A very thorough background check. They'd never let her in.

But, she'd never tell the others that. They weren't dumb, if they were a bit of rebels, but they were not dumb. They knew the truth, but they kept playing dumb too. Remus was wrapping up the last essay of the year. They still had a week left, but it wasn't going to be too difficult after this.

"Remus! Remus!"

She sighed as she heard Siri's frantic yells. What had he done this time? Got caught by Filch roaming the halls? Put an inching spell on the teacher's underwear? The possibilities were endless. She smiled and put away her pen. She was feeling great today as usual. With them being with her on her full moons, it was nice to not have to feel awful for a week afterwards. It was Peter's turn last night. It was a little rough, but probably because his rat form was so small she could never really play with him.

Sirius burst through the doors and she immediately knew something was incredibly, incredibly wrong.

"Padfoot, something up?"

"Snape knows."

Remus smiled and chuckled, trying to think of what Snape could possibly know. Did he know of the map they were making that would show the location of everyone in Hogwarts?

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to tell him-he was saying things, and I just thought what if the Willow whomped him a bit-"

What was Sirius talking about? He was speaking faster than she ever heard him before, but it was still in that over exaggerated tone. He was by far the biggest Drama Queen she had ever met.

"Isn't that what the willow is for? Isn't that what the willow is called? I mean, it is kind of in the name. Whomping Willow. I guess I just wasn't thinking, as usual. Anyway, but he's stupid in so many ways, and he got in."

He _what_? Remus rose from her spot, her hands clenching around the cold metal of her bracelet. Sirius had bought it for her for Christmas, with a moon charm. James got her a book charm, and Peter got her a small wand. She had given them all cloaks that repelled hexes.

"But James saved you and it's alright. Snape isn't going to tell anyone. And if he does, I will kill him. Unless you don't want me to, but if you do, I will, because I won't let anyone hurt you."

Remus couldn't speak. She was just frozen. How could he? After everything they had been through?

"Moony."

"I…" she had to stop and take a deep breath. "I don't need you to keep people from hurting me."

"But, that's what we're here for."

"No. No you're not. You're supposed to keep _me_ from hurting others. Including myself and you and James and Peter and Snape!"

"Moony"

"I'm done with it." Remus said, shaking her head. "I'm done with the constant pranks and getting detention because I don't have the _nerve_ to speak up for myself! I'm tired of the 'pet names' and the teasing. I'm really tired of you, Sirius. I'm tired of the way you flip your hair and grin at girls and then shoot them all down when they finally ask you out because you were leading them on for weeks!"

"Remus, are you mad?"

"Yes! Yes I'm mad! I'm furious, I'm enraged, I'm _pissed_! " She yelled and stormed out of the room.

Sirius was about to go after her, but he saw the charm bracelet on the ground where she had once been.

"I'm sorry."


	20. Sixth Year

**Whew, sixth year already! **

* * *

Remus didn't open any of her letters. She might have, if it had not been for James, Snape would be dead, but she was angry at Potter for being mean to Severus in the first place. The kid wouldn't look at her the last week of school! He wouldn't even walk by her in the halls. All he did was cry in the bathroom for the first day, and then he would run down the opposite hall if he saw her.

The letter kept coming though, and she knew they were all from them. They were all apologizes, she knew, but she didn't care. Not one bit. Nope.

She only worked on the map because she wanted to. Not because she wanted to see James's face when he said the incantation for the first time. And not because she thought Siri would give her a job well done and a pat on the back.

Totally not because she thought Peter would smile at her with his little mouse smile.

She just wanted to because she got the go ahead to use magic and wanted to try out those new spells.

She got it to work, and then, the rest of her boring summer began.

The letters kept coming, and coming, but she didn't read one of them. Not a single one. She was stronger than her appearance made her out to be. And trust her, she had the will power of a lion. Maybe that's why she was put into Gryffindor.

* * *

"Remus ever write back to you?" James asked Peter. The smaller boy shook his head no.

"Merlin, we're in some deep crap. If she didn't even write to him, she's not talking to any of us."

James gave his friend a small pat on the shoulder. It was kind of sweet at first how Sirius always was so protective over Remus and could never put his charm on her, but now it was just getting plain annoying. If those two didn't just snog and get over that tension, James was going to put a spell on them.

"What are we going to do?" Peter asked. He was finally getting out of his shell. It usually took three to four hours after the train stopped before the boy would start speaking.

"The only thing we can do. Man up and apologize."

"But we tried that." Sirius whined.

"Through letters. Girl's prefer it when we say we screwed up to their faces."

James led his friends along through the corridors and pulled out his invisibility cloak. Remus hated it when he used it to sneak into the girls' dormitories, but this was an emergency. They had to catch her before she went to the feast.

When they pulled the cloak off, which was rather hard to do since they had all crammed under it, Remus threw a pillow at them.

"Turn around!"

They did as they were told, knowing that they should have stopped to see if she was getting dressed in the first place.

"I can't you guys have the balls to come and see me. You never know when to stop, do you?"

"Remus, let me speak, please." James said.

"Make it quick. Lily said she'd be over in a minute. And you can turn back around now." They all swiveled around and had to catch their breaths as they saw Remus putting her other clothes up in their drawers. She was wearing a skirt with fitting leggings and a beige sweater. That girl had an unhealthy obsession with beige. Not that it didn't look good on her or anything.

"Remus, I wanted to apologize to you. I understand if our friendship is beyond repair, but you've been the best influence on all of us. You kept us together all these years, and I should have listened when you told us to stop picking on Severus. It was wrong of us to do that, and made us worse than any Slytherin." Okay, so this was a bit harder than when he practiced it, but it seemed to be having an affect on Lupin.

"I'm sorry, I truly am, and I am going to start being a better person, even if you don't accept this apology because that is the effect you've had on me. Again, I'm sorry."

Remus blinked and pretended to wipe tears out of her eyes dramatically before a huge smile erupted.

"If you think-"

"James!" Lily opened the door and threw her arms around Potter. "Okay."

"Okay what?"

"You've been asking me out since forever, and I said okay."

Now it was James's turn to smile and laugh as he picked up Lily and twirled her around. Remus made a gagging noise.

"Right. Love birds, can you please get out of my room. All of you." She ordered. James gave her one last look, confirming what he knew she was doing. She nodded her head and he walked out alongside Lily. Peter trailed behind, watching the feet in front of him, and Sirius lingered by her door.

"We're not the Marauders without you."

"Yeah, you are."

"No, we're not. We really do miss you Remus. You must miss us too."

"I do," and she gave out a small, nervous chuckle, because only Merlin knew how much she missed them, "But, I can't be the reason why someone dies."

"You won't. We understand what your illness means."

"Then why did you send Snape down there?"

"Because I just thought the Whomping Willow would get him! I know that was a stupid idea now, and I'm saying sorry for it. If you won't accept my apology then fine, maybe I don't even really want to be friends with you."

Remus wanted to turn his head into a huge balloon at that very moment, but since her will power was strong, she managed not to.

"Maybe I don't want to be friends with you."

"Oh, you already made that perfectly clear. You don't want to be friends with a chick magnet."

"I did not say that!"

"In a way, you did. You called us stupid, and you said you were done with us, and that's fine. I'm done with you."

"Done with me?" Remus asked. How could he be done with her? She wasn't the one-

"Because you're Remus J. Lupin, the girl that could do no wrong. Everyday you mope around about your poor pathetic self, instead of realizing that you have great friends who are helping you. You don't use your gifts that you have to make a difference. Come on, Moony, you can already do nonverbal spells! And you chose to whine to yourself about all your many woes. You think you are so much better than us because of your lycanthropy because you _do_ have so many problems but are still so smart, yet you only tell us to lay off when we almost get someone killed."

Sirius stopped his rant and tried to catch his breath.

"I shouldn't have had to stop you before then."

"But you could have, and you never did, so this is still partly your fault."

"Look at you! Mr. Put the Blame on Someone Else!"

"And here's Mrs. Mopesalot!"

"I do not mope!"

"Yes you do! You act like the only one who has problems are you! You wouldn't have killed Snape that night."

"Yes! I would have! This is what I can't get through your thick skull! I'm a monster! I would have ripped his heart out and ate it like a chocolate frog!"

"And that's what you can't get through your thick skull! You are not a monster!"

"Yes I am!"

Sirius threw his hands up in the air like he was giving up, "Fine! You're a monster! You're a monster for changing into a beast at the full moon based on a blood sickness that you never asked for, that you never sought after. And all those people out there killing people they deem less 'pure' well, they're just normal people."

It was Remus's turn to run her fingers through her hair in annoyance.

"Those people are monsters."

"And you think you're in the same category as them?"

"No!"

"See?" He crossed his arms, "You're not a monster."

Remus stood there, crossing her own arms. They both starred at each other, neither one wavering or even blinking. The werewolf and the animagus. She wasn't going to break, but she wasn't going to let him have the last word either. Remus snatched up her robe and pushed past Sirius.

"I hate you." She said as she walked away, pointing up her longest finger his way.

"No you don't!"

"Yes I do!"

"You love me!"

"Shut up!"

There. She had the last word.

"Never!"

Damn that boy.


	21. Dancing

Sirius couldn't stop humming to himself as he ran across the grounds towards the lake. Today was the day. The big day that he was finally going to do it. The dance was in a few days, and all the sixth and seventh years were going. James had Lily, Peter met some other girl named Krystal with a K, and Sirius, well, Sirius knew who he wanted to go with, he just had to ask her.

Remus was sitting on a rock, watching as James and Peter were practicing their patronus spells. With all the dark creatures and talk of war, it was now mandatory all students learned to cast a full patronus. Remus had cast hers on her first time. It was a wolf. That showed to Sirius just how much it was apart of her life. The other three Marauders were only able make a whisper of silver. They just hadn't found a strong enough memory yet, he supposed.

Remus was just sitting there as he walked up, sliding his hands into his pockets. She was starring of into space. She wasn't reading, writing, or doing any type of studying. Great. Something was wrong.

"Hey, Moony, something up?" he asked as he crouched down beside her.

"Nothing much, Padfoot." She said back, still looking off into the horizon. He leaned closer and nudged her with his elbow.

"Something's wrong. I can tell. Now, spill it before I have to tickle you."

"You wouldn't dare." She said, smiling at him, her hand falling away from her face. Sirius felt his whole face brighten. Why did she do this to him? She was nice, sure, but why did she make him feel like this?

"Try me."

Remus chuckled, and rested her face back on her hand. Sirius saw the faint scars on her knuckles.

"It's the dance."

Yes! This was his opportunity.

"Ah, don't worry if you don't have a date. You still have a few days for the right guy to-"

"Someone asked me, Siri."

No. His heart dropped to the ground and rolled into the blue water. James was right. He told Sirius to ask her sooner! Damnit!

"Who?"

"Robert. He's very nice."

"Why are you upset then?" Sirius chocked out, trying not to think about how much he wanted to kill this Robert person.

'It's silly."

"Sillier than James and Lily celebrating their three month anniversary?"

Remus giggled. It was weird to see their friend falling in love with someone that was outside of their group, but Lily was actually really great. They still hung out with their friends, and they didn't become each other's whole lives immediately.

"I think it is." She said and looked down, pulling her sweater over her knees. Sirius bumped into her again, "Come on, I won't tell a soul."

"Pad, you can't keep a secret even if your life depended on it."

"Just tell me!"

Remus sighed and averted her eyes away from him. "I don't know how to dance."

Sirius laughed and stopped when Remus glared at him.

"Really? That's all? Rem, I can teach you that right now."

Her eyes grew wide. "You can?"

Sirius stood up and held his hand out for her. She stood up and took his hand in hers tentatively. He showed her how to place her left arm on his bicep as his hand stayed on her shoulder blade. Their other hands were intertwined.

"Now, step forward with your left foot." Remus did so very quickly and stomped on his toes.

"Moony, watch your feet. Move with me." Her head shot straight down, and she kept her eyes glued on her shoes as he instructed her.

"Good. Front with left foot, now to the right with the right foot. Feet together. Step back with your right. Left with the left. And together." He kept saying the words, and they awkwardly moved in a small box step, until slowly, Remus began to relax. Her movements grew more fluid, and her muscles released all tension. She began to move with him, together as one. Sirius picked up their pace slightly, and Remus fell back into a choppy rhythm.

"Feel the beat." He told her. Remus let out a gruff chuckle.

"What beat?"

"Just, listen." He started humming a simple three beat song and she went quiet, listening, until they fell back into sync. They kept dancing, and soon Sirius was no longer humming, and he added in a small turn, so they were floating in circles around the edge of the lake. Remus's eyes finally left her feet and met his. She smiled, and he smiled right back, his eyes never once leaving hers. They didn't speak. They just danced together, smiling, until Remus stepped on his foot, and Sirius completely lost his balance, sending them tumbling into the cold water.

Remus screamed and crawled out as fast as she could. She looked like a poor wet mutt standing there, shaking off as much water as she could.

Sirius stood up and walked out, taking off his shirt to squeeze the excess water out of it.

Their eyes met once more, but the smile was gone from her face.

"S-sorry. I better get going, and thanks Siri."

"What are friends for?"

Friends. Damn friend zone. He never thought he would be in this situation. Hell, it had never really been his plan to fall in love with his best friend. Okay, slight correction. He never expected his best friend to not love him back.


	22. James and Lily

**Sorry about the length of this one. Just a really short chapter of the dance. :)**

* * *

James felt like hanging his head in shame when he saw his best friends walk in with dates. That weren't each other. He held his hand around Lily's waist, and the only thing that tore his eyes away from her gorgeous emerald dress was Remus and Sirius walking in. Robert was an okay guy. That was it. Remus, Remus was Remus. She was in a beautiful floor length tan dress with flashes of gold, and a white shawl. She didn't belong with that Robert. Now, Sirius, the boy who actually combed his hair and was wearing a tux that was the boy she should have been with.

Lily caught his stare.

"James, they'll come to their senses soon enough."

"It took us six years."

A glint of mischievousness went through Lily's eyes, and James smiled.

"Maybe they just need some help." She said.

"And this is why I love you."

Lily smiled and pushed a long strand of hair behind her ear.

"You take Robert, and I'll grab Sirius's date. And then you take Sirius, I'll get Remus, and we bash their heads together."

James smiled, but he couldn't stop watching his friends. As Remus danced with her date, every now and then her eyes would look past Robert and towards Sirius. And whenever her eyes went back down, Sirius was looking up at her, a smile lighting up his face.

"Maybe we shouldn't interfere."

"You sure?" Lily asked.

He watched as Sirius's and Remus's eyes met and they both blushed and looked away.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

And he grabbed her hand and led her to the dance floor where they spent the night laughing and twirling to the music.


	23. Seventh Year

This was it. This was their last and final year at Hogwarts. After this, well, there was no telling really. They could all go their separate ways. Peter decided that an auror really wasn't what he wanted to do, so he was hoping his N.E.W.T's would e good enough to become a healer. James and Sirius were still dead set on an auror, and Lily was going to be a teacher. Remus wasn't sure. She wanted to do anything, really. She kind of wanted to just travel the world and help people, muggles and wizards alike that had these gifts thrown at them. She wanted to be there for children going through their first transformation, and most of all, she wanted to rip Fenir Greyback's throat out.

The wizard, Voldemort, but nobody really said his name, and Remus never quite understood that, he was trying to recruit giants and werewolves for his army. It sounded about right. He wanted monsters like Fenir that fed on _children_ to go along with the evil in him. It made her furious. Maybe she could get the other werewolves to see the truth, if there were any other werewolves out there. She would have to leave her friends. There was no question about it.

And that would be the most difficult thing of all.

"Hey, Moony!" James waltzed up to her with one arm around Lily, and the other in his pocket.

"Hello, Prongs. How's it going, Lily?"

The girl smiled at Remus and made her whole face feel warm. Lily really was a beautiful girl, and it was nice to finally see her and James together.

"Great, actually. I can't wait to get this year over with."

Remus smiled and said her too, but she really didn't. Hogwarts was truly her home. This was where her friends were. This is where her family was. She really didn't want to leave these guys behind.

"You seen Siri around?" James asked.

"No, I haven't. He's probably just getting up to trouble somewhere."

"Probably." James shrugged and kept walking along with Lily. Tonight was their date night, so Remus wasn't going to be seeing much of them. And Peter was off serving detention, so that only left two of the Marauders. Remus decided to go out side and sit near the Whomping Willow, watching its branches sway in the breeze.

"Moony,"

Remus practically jumped out of her skin when Sirius said that. She turned around and threw the stick she had been playing with.

"Don't do that!"

Sirius pulled out their map and smiled, "How can I help myself when I have this wonderful thing?"

"You could try being mature."

"Mature? I don't think that word is in my vocabulary."

Remus laughed. "Siri, a lot of words aren't in your vocabulary."

"That's why I have you, my walking, talking dictionary and encyclopedia."

"What would you do without me?"

Sirius sat down next to her and shivered as a breeze brushed past the two young adults.

"I don't know." He answered truthfully. They sat in silence. It was not a nice silence, but a much more awkward silence with a topping of tension and frustration.

"What are we going to do?" Remus asked.

"I don't know." Sirius said again.

"I mean none of us really have anywhere to go after this."

"And it's obvious Lily and James are going to get married."

"Which means they'll have to buy a house."

"And we'll be left on our own." Sirius finished. He sat there for a moment before chuckling.

"You're going to have to buy a flat." He said.

"Why is that funny?"

"I don't know, it just is!"

Remus laughed too, glad that the awkwardness went away. She hated feeling awkward around Sirius. He was the one person she was ever truly herself with, and it was awful having to feel like something was going to take that away from her. Maybe that's why she kept her emotions bottled up. If anything got out, she could ruin what she had here, and she truly loved what they had.

"I could never live in a flat."

"Why not?" Sirius asked as he put the map up in his bag.

"The full moon. Where would I go? I'm sure the neighbors would be bound to hear something."

"Then where are you going to go?"

"I don't know."

They sat in silence for a bit longer.

"Do you think it would be wrong if two friends started going out?" Sirius asked.

"What do you mean? Like, best friends since first year?"

"Yeah," he answered quietly. Remus knew what he was asking, and she knew that her answer was going to determine the rest of their year together. She swallowed.

"I don't think so, but I think it would be very difficult, and if it ended wrong, they would never be able to be friends again."

"But don't you think it's worth the try? What if they are meant for each other?" Sirius was now looking at her, his eyes begging her to say yes, it was worth it.

"What if they never could have that type of relationship? What if at one point, they could have, but one of the friends did something that the other could never truly get over."

"Moony, what are you talking about?"

"I'm saying, hypothetically speaking, if one friend were to, I don't know, spill the other friend's deepest, darkest secret by accident, and that friend was finally able to be friends with the first one again, do you really think their trust could ever be repaired enough for a relationship?"

"But what if things like that just make the couple stronger? They already know the absolute worst and best in each other, and they've already learned how to overcome things that seem impossible."

"Well, why would one friend even want to go out with the other friend in the first place?"

"What if that friend is really nice and awesome and kick ass?" Sirius said.

"What if that friend could never get married or have children or a job?"

"What if the first friend didn't care about the other friends problems?"

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Remus said. She felt like stomping her feet and screaming at Sirius just to get her point through his thick skull.

"Love doesn't make any sense!"

"But they would never work out, so why would they feel any connection?"

"Whose to say they wouldn't work out?"

"Whose to say they would?"

Sirius took a deep breath, like it was _him_ who had to get his point through her thick skull. She huffed. He new she was right.

"Both friends have emotional baggage. Both friends are stubborn arses that won't say how they feel for each other. Both of them like the same things. The both fill in each other's faults. They are sitting here like five year olds talking about hypothetical situations instead of just coming out and saying it!"

Remus let out a scoff. She was not a stubborn arse.

"And what is that?"

"You like me!"

How dare he?

"No, _you_ like _me!_" she yelled back.

"Oh, no, you liked me since the start of second year."

"You were head over heels with me since the end of first year!"

"You loved me ever since I sat by your side and told you you weren't a monster."

"You were in love with me ever since I stood up on that train and took a hex for James because you never thought a _girl_ would do something like that!"

"Maybe I was!"

"Maybe I was too!"

"But," Sirius started, his voice never dropping a decibel, "I always loved you more."

"Ha! Who was the one that constantly took punishment for your actions?" Remus asked because it was just so apparent that she loved him more than he loved her.

"Who was the one that went against all magic laws to help you during the full moon?"

"Who was the one that stood up for you when your mother called you a dirty heathen?"

"Who was the one that healed you every morning?"

"Who's the one that got your arse through school?"

"Who's the one that taught you to dance?"

"Who's the one that helped you make your patronus and not fail DADA?"

Remus and Sirius both stopped yelling at each other for a moment, trying to think of their next comeback, and that was when it hit the both of them. They finally realized what they had been saying. Remus's face went even redder than it already was from the lack of air. Sirius smiled.

"I won."

"No, you didn't. I had the last word." She snapped.

"But I got you to admit you loved me."

"Doesn't matter," she replied, "it's all about who had the best comeback."

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really? Well, then, who's the one that made the first move?"

Remus grabbed Sirius's shirt and pulled his mouth crashing into hers'. It was nothing like any of her other kisses that had always been very chaste and just lips touching, really. This one hurt. His lips were bruising hers, and she made sure to bruise his right back. No way was he getting the best of her. Remus stopped the kiss, pushing him back away from her. A strand of drool pulled from their lips. Ew. She wiped it off. This wasn't exactly the most romantic moment of her life, but for some reason just felt so right.

"I did. So, I win." Remus said with a smile. Sirius starred at her for a moment.

"Alright, but who's the better dueler?"

Remus rolled her eyes. "Easy. Me."

"Ah." Sirius said, wiggling his finger at her, "Without magic."

"Without magi-" she was cut off as he pounced on her, ticking her sides. Remus started laughing so hard it hurt. She was going to pee if he didn't stop. She knew they were on a slight incline, and she gave herself a high five in her mind. With a small push, she used his weight to send him rolling down the hill with her entangled.

At the bottom, Remus sat up, smiling down at Sirius.

"Me. Again."

"You know, most guys don't like it when a girl is better at them."

"You're not most guys."

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

Remus stood up and held out her hand for him.

"Shut up and go put you big girl pants on. We have to go study for our Newts."

"You know, you should feel lucky."

"Why's that?"

"Because you are the only girl that has ever managed to capture Sirius Black."

"I really do hate you, you know that right?"

"Of course, Moony. I hate you too."

* * *

**It's done! I'm so sorry about spamming you guys tonight, and I know this probably isn't edited to the best of my capabilities, but I just really wanted to post it all. :)**

**Also, I had a really hard time thinking of a how Sirius and Remus would actually confess their love for each other, and I know their relationship would be tough and heartbreaking, but I couldn't decide how they would get together.**

**And then came this.**

**I hope you enjoyed this fic!**


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